South Korea–United States relations
(left) with U.S. President Donald Trump (right) in the White House, April 2019.]] South Korea–United States relations ( ) refers to international relations between South Korea and the United States. Relations commenced since 1950, when the United States helped establish the modern state of South Korea, also known as the Republic of Korea, and fought on its UN-sponsored side in the Korean War (1950–1953). During the subsequent four decades, South Korea experienced tremendous economic, political and military growth, and significantly reduced U.S. dependency. Relations between the United States and South Korea strengthened under the conservative, pro-American Lee Myung-bak administration. At the 2009 G20 London summit, U.S. President Barack Obama called South Korea "one of America's closest allies and greatest friends."President Obama Vows Strengthened U.S.-South Korea Ties 2 Apr 2009. Embassy of the United States, Seoul In 1989, South Korea was among the first batch of countries to be designated as a major non-NATO ally. According to academics David Shambaugh and Michael Yahuda, there are currently several security factors shaping the alliance: # The challenges posed by North Korea's nuclear and missile program and the potential of weapons proliferation to other states, # The impact of peace and reunification developments on the Korean peninsula on the strategic relationship between the United States and China # The potential impact of events on the Korean peninsula on Japan and Sino-Japanese rivalry. According to a 2014 BBC World Service Poll, 58% of South Koreans view the United States' influence positively, while 28% view it negatively; 55% of Americans view South Korea's influence positively, while 34% view it negatively. The new US Ambassador to South Korea arrived in Seoul on July 7, 2018. The post had been vacant since President Donald Trump took office in January 2017. Harry Harris, a former head of the US military's Pacific Command, has expressed his resolve to work as an ambassador to strengthen the alliance between the United States and South Korea. Country comparison Leaders of South Korea and the United States from 1950 ImageSize = width:800 height:auto barincrement:70 PlotArea = left:80 right:15 bottom:80 top:5 DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Define $start = 01/01/1950 Define $end = 31/12/2020 Period = from:$start till:$end TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:5 start:01/01/1955 ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:1 start:01/01/1950 Legend = orientation:horizontal position:bottom Colors = id:lib value:blue legend:Liberals_(S._Korea) id:con value:coral legend:Conservatives_(S._Korea) id:dem value:skyblue legend:Democratic_Party_(U.S.) id:gop value:pink legend:Republican_Party_(U.S.) BarData = bar:kr text:South Korea bar:us text:United States PlotData= align:center mark:(line,black) bar:kr from: 10/05/2017 till: $end color:lib text:"Moon" from: 25/02/2013 till: 10/03/2017 color:con text:"Park G." from: 25/02/2008 till: 25/02/2013 color:con text:"Lee M.B." from: 25/02/2003 till: 25/02/2008 color:lib text:"Roh M.H." from: 25/02/1998 till: 25/02/2003 color:lib text:"Kim D.J." from: 25/02/1993 till: 25/02/1998 color:con text:"Kim Y.S." from: 25/02/1988 till: 25/02/1993 color:con text:"Roh T.W." from: 12/12/1979 till: 25/02/1988 color:con text:"Chun D.H." from: 16/05/1961 till: 26/10/1979 color:con text:"Park C.H. from: 26/04/1960 till: 16/05/1961 color:lib text:"Yun" from: $Start till: 26/04/1960 color:con text:"Rhee" bar:us from: 20/01/2017 till: $end color:gop text:"Trump" from: 20/01/2009 till: 20/01/2017 color:dem text:"Obama" from: 20/01/2001 till: 20/01/2009 color:gop text:"G.W.Bush" from: 20/01/1993 till: 20/01/2001 color:dem text:"Clinton" from: 20/01/1989 till: 20/01/1993 color:gop text:"G.H.W.Bush" from: 20/01/1981 till: 20/01/1989 color:gop text:"Reagan" from: 20/01/1977 till: 20/01/1981 color:dem text:"Carter" from: 09/08/1974 till: 20/01/1977 color:gop text:"Ford" from: 20/01/1969 till: 09/08/1974 color:gop text:"Nixon" from: 22/11/1963 till: 20/01/1969 color:dem text:"Johnson" from: 20/01/1961 till: 22/11/1963 color:dem text:"Kennedy" from: 20/01/1953 till: 20/01/1961 color:gop text:"Eisenhower" from: $Start till: 20/01/1953 color:dem text:"Truman" Historical background The United States and Korea's Joseon Dynasty established diplomatic relations under the 1882 Treaty of Peace, Amity, Commerce, and Navigation, and the first U.S. diplomatic envoy arrived in Korea in 1883. US-Korea relations continued until 1905, when Japan assumed direction over Korean foreign affairs. In 1910, Japan began a 35-year period of colonial rule over Korea. Following Japan's surrender to the Allies in 1945, at the end of World War II, the Korean Peninsula was divided at the 38th parallel into two occupation zones, with the United States in the South and the Soviet Union in the North. Initial talks in 1945-6 to achieve a unified, independent Korea were not successful, and in 1948 two separate nations were established - the Republic of Korea (ROK) in the South, and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) in the North. In 1949, the United States established diplomatic relations with the Republic of Korea. Korean War (6.25 War) Cross-border skirmishes and raids at the 38th Parallel escalated into open warfare when the North Korean forces invaded South Korea on June 25, 1950. The Korean War broke out when North Korea invaded South Korea. In response, 16 member countries of the United Nations, including the United States, came to the defense of South Korea. It was the first significant armed conflict of the Cold War with extensive deployment of U.S. and other troops. Origins of the South Korea–United States alliance and Rhee Syngman, Korea's first President]] Following the end of World War II, the United States established a bilateral alliance with South Korea instead of establishing a multilateral alliance with South Korea and other East Asian countries. Moreover, the "U.S. alliance with South Korea would consequently have three functions. First, it would serve as part of a network of alliances and military installations designed to ring the Soviet threat in the Pacific. Second, it would deter a second North Korean attack, with U.S. ground troops serving as the "tripwire" guaranteeing U.S. involvement. Third, it would restrain the South from engaging in adventurism." The United States and South Korea are allies under the 1953 Mutual Defense Treaty. Under the agreement, U.S. military personnel have maintained a continuous presence on the Korean peninsula. US military in Korea South Korea and the United States agreed to a military alliance in 1953.The ROK-US Mutual Defense Treaty Embassy of the Republic of Korea in the United States They called it "the relationship forged in blood".Speeches of U.S. Ambassador, March 20, 2009 … One of the first phrases I learned in Korean, I heard in Korean, when people talked about the US-Korea relationship, was 혈맹관계, "the relationship forged in blood." I remember how moved I was by that, by the passion which people used in talking about it. Our relationship, as you all well know, goes further back even than that … (March 20, 2009, U.S. Ambassador in the Republic of Korea) In addition, roughly 29,000 United States Forces Korea troops are stationed in South Korea. In 2009, South Korea and the United States pledged to develop the alliance's vision for future defense cooperation.Joint Statement of ROK-US Foreign and Defense Ministers’ Meeting 07-21-2010. The Korea Times Currently South Korean forces would fall under United States control should the war resume. This war time control is planned to revert to South Korea in 2020."US, South Korea agree to again delay handover of wartime operational control to Seoul." At the request of the United States, President Park Chung-hee sent troops to Vietnam to assist American troops during the Vietnam War, maintaining the second largest contingent of foreign troops after the United States. In exchange, the United States increased military and economic assistance to South Korea. President Roh Moo-hyun, despite having been elected on a liberal platform, also authorized dispatching a small contingent of troops to Iraq in 2004 at the request of President George W. Bush. Since 2009 air forces of South Korea and the U.S.A. have conducted the annual joint exercises named "Max Thunder". In 2018 the drills began on May 11 and continued until May 17. greets General Park Chung-hee, November 1961]] At a Cabinet meeting in Seoul on 10 July 2018 the government has decided not to hold this year's Ulchi drill scheduled for next month. Government said the decision was made in line with recent political and security improvements on the peninsula and the suspension of South Korea-U.S. joint military exercises.http://world.kbs.co.kr/english/news/news_Po_detail.htm?No=137694&id=Po The current South Korean President Moon Jae-in, elected in May 2017, has said he supports the continuation of sanctions against North Korea if it is aimed at bringing North Korea out of its state of isolation and to the negotiating table. He also argued, at the same time, that he was against a "sanctions-only" approach toward North Korea. His approach to North Korea is similar to Kim Dae-jung's Sunshine Policy, which only continued up to the Roh Mu-hyun's administration. In 2018 there were several rounds of talks regarding sharing the cost of U.S forces in South Korea. These reflect Washington's desire for South Korea to share a "greater burden" of the costs of the military deployment. On February 10, 2019, South Korea and the United States confirmed that a year long deal for keeping American troops, numbering 28,500, in South Korea had been made. This was in exchanged for South Korea paying 925 million dollars to the United States. South Korea-U.S. relations have also been strengthened over the years from state to state cooperation that has largely remained out of the public purview. An example of this is the American assistance that was discretely given to the South Korean government immediately following the 1983 Rangoon Bombing assassination attempt against President Chun Doo-hwan, which killed 21 people including Chun's Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Commerce. The United States quietly provided military and logistics support to ensure that the surviving delegates and bodies of the deceased were safely returned to Korea. According to Victor Cha, an academic and former Director for Asian Affairs in the White House's National Security Council, a South Korean official recounted to him the sentiment that “this is what only a true ally like the United States was capable of doing, in ways that would never become public but would be remembered.” Nuclear and missile diplomacy Between 1958 and 1991, the United States based a variety of nuclear weapons in South Korea. The number reached a peak of 950 warheads in 1967. Since 1991, when President George H. W. Bush announced the withdrawal of all tactical nuclear weapons based abroad, the Korean peninsula has seen ongoing efforts by the U.S. to negotiate an end to North Korea's own nuclear and missile development. These efforts have been characterized by "stalemates, crises and tentative progress." Despite the ongoing tensions, the U.S. has not redeployed nuclear weapons, although one recent press report suggests a majority of South Koreans are in favor of developing their own nuclear weapons. South Korea announced the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense anti-ballistic missile defense system at the end of 2017. Opinion polls According to Pew Research Center, 84% of South Koreans have a favorable view towards the United States and Americans (ranked within top 4 among the countries in the world).Opinion of the United States Pew Research CenterSouth Koreans remain strongly pro-American Pew Research Center Also, according to a Korean Gallup poll, South Korea views the U.S. as the most favorable country in the world."한국에 긍정적 영향을 미친 국가는 미국 " 80.7% (80.7% Korean think US gave most positive influence to Korea) On the political side, the United States supported South Korea after 1945 as a "staunch bastion against communism", even when the ROK itself was ruled by a US-backed dictatorship. In a March 2011 Gallup Poll, 74% of South Koreans said that they believe that the U.S. influence in the world is favorable, and in a November 2011 Gallup Poll, 57% of South Koreans approved of U.S. leadership, with 22% disapproving.U.S. Leadership Approval Ratings Top China's in Asia Gallup (company) In a 2011 Gallup poll, a 65% favorability rating, the highest rating to date. According to a 2014 BBC World Service Poll, 58% of South Koreans view U.S. influence positively, the highest rating for any surveyed Asian country.2014 World Service Poll BBC Anti-American sentiment in South Korea US Military comfort women In 1953, at the end of the Korean War, the number of prostitutes in South Korea was estimated as about 350,000, with about 60% working near U.S. military camps. In the post - Korean War period, the U.S military continued to contribute significantly to the South Korean economy - providing an estimated 1% of the South Korean GNP in 1991, including the sex industry. Quoting the newsletter of My Sister's Place, July 1991, p. 8. Despite the world-wide growth of women's human rights advocacy since the 1990s, and the shift towards foreign workers providing sex services for U.S troops, (particularly women trafficked from the Philippines and the former Soviet Union), prostitution via "juicy bars" remains an issue near U.S. bases in South Korea. 1992 Yun Geum-i murder In 1992, Yun Geum-i, a 26-year-old woman, was brutally killed by a U.S. serviceman, Private Kenneth L. Markle, in Dongducheon. In August 1993, the U.S. government compensated the victim's family with a payment of about US$72,000. Markle was sentenced by a South Korean court to life imprisonment, later reduced to 15 years. Professor Katharine Moon notes that the murder was not unique, and did not spark a national debate about the presence of U.S. forces. However, it did become a "call to action" for some Koreans, and led to the establishment of the "National Campaign for the Eradication of Crimes by U.S. troops." Environmental degradation 1n July 2000, the Eighth U.S. Army apologized for an incident where formaldehyde, a toxic fluid, was released into the Han River in February that year. More recently, South Korean environmentalist groups have protested about other spills, including from the US garrison at Yongsan. 2008 Beef protests in South Korea The Government of South Korea banned imports of U.S. beef in 2003 in response to a case of mad cow disease in Washington state. In 2008, the protests against U.S. beef recalled the student "pro-democracy" movements of the 1980s. Nevertheless, by 2010 South Korea had become the world's third largest U.S. beef importer. With its strong import growth, South Korea surpassed Japan for the first time to become the largest market for U.S. beef in Asia and in 2016 US beef imports in Korea reached a value of $1 billion.S. Korea becomes world's third largest U.S. beef importer July 16, 2010. People's Daily Opposition to THAAD The rollout of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) has been met with domestic opposition in South Korea. The opposition has been on the grounds that the North Korean threat has gone, and on environmental grounds. THAAD was deployed under the regime of ROK President Park Geun-hye. Her opponents accused her of "bowing too readily to America's requests." According to South China Morning Post, when Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn visited Seongju to appease the local backlash against THAAD, demonstrators blocked Hwang's buses and pelted him with eggs and water bottles. The progressive People's Party also opposes the deployment. The decision to deploy THAAD in South Korea has been opposed and criticized by China and Russia who have accused the US of "destabilizing the region." On 30 October 2017, South Korea and China agreed to normalize relations, which had rifted due to THAAD deployment. Economic relations South Korea has experienced significant economic growth in the years since the Korean War, sometimes referred to as the Miracle on the Han River. As of 2019, China is the ROK's largest trading partner, behind Japan (2nd) and the United States (3rd). Exports to the United States have fallen from 40 percent in the late 1980s to less than 20 percent in 2002.Noland, M. (2003). The Strategic Importance of US-Korea Economic Relations. International Economics Policy Briefs. Retrieved from http://www.iie.com/publications/pb/pb03-6.pdf Disputes There remains some major trade disputes between the ROK and the US in the areas including telecommunications, automotive industry, intellectual property rights issues, pharmaceutical industry, and the agricultural industry.Manyin, M. (2004). South Korea-U.S. Economic Relations: Cooperation, Friction, and Future Prospects. CRS Report for Congress. Retrieved from https://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/34347.pdf South Korea's export-driven economy and competition with domestic U.S. producers in certain fields of products have led to some trade friction with the United States. For example, imports of certain steel and non-steel products have been subject to U.S. anti-dumping and countervailing duty investigations. A total of 29 U.S. imports from South Korea have been assessed. See also * Free trade agreement between the United States of America and the Republic of Korea * Index of Korea-related articles * United States Army Military Government in Korea (USAMGIK, 1945–1948) * Six-party talks References Further reading * Baldwin, Frank, ed. Without Parallel: The American-Korean Relationship since 1945 (1973). * Berger, Carl. The Korean Knot: A Military-Political History (U of Pennsylvania Press, 1964). * Chay, Jongsuk. Diplomacy of Asymmetry: Korea-American Relations to 1910 (U of Hawaii Press, 1990). * Chung, Jae Ho. Between Ally and Partner: Korea-China Relations and the United States (2008) excerpt and text search * Cumings, Bruce. The Origins of the Korean War: Liberation and the Emergence of Separate Regimes, 1945-1947 (Princeton UP, 1981). * Cumings, Bruce. ed. Child of Conflict: The Korean-American Relationship, 1943-1953 (U of Washington Press, 1983). * Dennett, Tyler. "Early American Policy in Korea, 1883-7." Political Science Quarterly 38.1 (1923): 82-103. in JSTOR * Denett, Tyler. Americans in East Asia: A Critical Study of the Policy of the United States with References to China, Japan, and Korea in the Nineteenth Century. (1922) online free * Harrington, Fred Harvey. God, Mammon, and the Japanese: Dr. Horace N. Allen and Korean- American Relations, 1884-1905. (U of Wisconsin Press, 1944). * Heo, Uk and Terence Roehrig. 2018. The Evolution of the South Korea-United States Alliance. Cambridge University Press. *Hong, Hyun Woong. "American Foreign Policy Toward Korea, 1945-1950" (PhD dissertation, Oklahoma State University, 2007) online bibliography pp 256–72. * Kim, Byung-Kook; Vogel, Ezra F. The Park Chung Hee Era: The Transformation of South Korea (Harvard UP, 2011). * Kim, Seung-young, ed. American Diplomacy and Strategy toward Korea and Northeast Asia, 1882 - 1950 and After (2009) online * Lee, Yur-Bok and Wayne Patterson. One Hundred Years of Korean-American Relations, 1882-1982 (1986) online * Ryu, Dae Young. "An Odd Relationship: The State Department, Its Representatives, and American Protestant Missionaries in Korea, 1882—1905." Journal of American-East Asian Relations 6.4 (1997): 261-287. * Yuh, Leighanne. "The Historiography of Korea in the United States". International Journal of Korean History (2010). 15#2: 127–144. External links * Republic of Korea Embassy in Washington, D.C. * U.S. Embassy in Seoul * Video on South Korea-US Relations from the Dean Peter Krogh Foreign Affairs Digital Archives Category:South Korea–United States relations Category:Bilateral relations of the United States United States Category:Korea–United States relations Category:Articles containing video clips